(Quebec) Despite a progression curve that seemed to destine her to such success, Isabelle Weidemann considers herself privileged to have reached her peak at the Beijing Olympics.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
In addition to her gold medal in the team pursuit with Valérie Maltais and Ivanie Blondin, the speed skater from Ottawa won silver in the 5000m and bronze in the 3000m.
With short track specialist Steven Dubois, whom she will find at the Canadian Championships presented until Sunday at the Intact Insurance Ice Center in Quebec City, Weidemann is the only member of the Canadian Olympic team to have stepped on the podium three times in China. . Unheard of in long track since Cindy Klassen’s five medals in 2006.
Despite his feat, the 27-year-old athlete is far from having a big head. It would even be quite the opposite for the one who carried the maple leaf flag at the closing ceremony.
“I feel very lucky to have had great results there,” Weidemann said Tuesday. I skated well and was able to do it in the Olympics. I don’t think it lines up that perfectly for a lot of people. So I was lucky in that regard. »
During the last Olympic cycle, the women’s team put a lot of energy into the pursuit. The arrival of Maltais represented the missing piece of the puzzle of this mismatched but formidable trio.
Bronze (2020) and silver (2021) medalists at the Worlds, they flew through the three World Cup starts in the fall of 2021 before beating their big Dutch rivals in the semi-finals in Beijing and crushing the Japanese. finally. With always only two exchanges and Weidemann as the last locomotive, a strategy that has shaken up the established order.
The three champions have never had the opportunity to look back on this great adventure. Maltais and Weidemann took advantage of their reunion in Quebec to discuss it for the very first time on Tuesday.
“We really ticked off our big goal,” Weidemann said a few hours later. We worked four years to do our best at the Olympics. We have reached the ultimate goal as a team. So now, particularly this year at the start of a new quadrennium, we are focusing on different things. It’s time to be a little more individual. »
Building a new team
For Weidemann, this means a renewed focus on the 3000 and 5000m, his two favorite events. Rather than aiming for medals and rankings, she mostly targets times.
“I like this personal aspect. It doesn’t imply what a rival can do. I focus on my improvement and going faster. I really like that. »
Her goals ? “Going faster than I’ve ever done…” In her case, that means approaching the national record in the 3000m held by Klassen since 2006 (she clocks in at just over 2 seconds now ) and beat his own Canadian reference in the 5000 m. In the 1500 m, which she will compete on Saturday in Quebec, she ranks sixth in the history of the country.
After the national championships, Weidemann and her teammates will think about the pursuit. Her main wish in this respect is to enlarge the group of skaters called upon to participate.
“It’s been so long that we are only three, without another skater being considered. We have very good athletes who are progressing in the sport. Val thinks the same thing as me: let’s build this group of six or seven women who could skate and also practice new tactics. When building a new team, everyone’s strengths will be different. It would be very interesting to try new things. »
This concern to pass the baton to the next generation… This is another mark of a great leader.